A fragrance for days without perfume

In Stockholm there is a place for yoga called Yogayama. If you ever come here, and are a yogi, I recommend you drop in for a class or just stop by for lunch upstairs. In the winter there is an open fire and the whole place smells of beautiful soothing incense and chai. During a recent visit I lingered for a while around the shelves with candles, incense and fragrances. I discovered a brand called Jimmy Boyd (sounds like a friend of the Rat Pack rather than a nose doesn’t he?). Unpretentious clear bottles of soft breezy fragrances that made me think of washed bed linen swaying on a cord to dry in the sun. I left with a ”water”, Limón y rosa. On the bottle it is written, ”Produced with love”. I like that... The fragrance is an aromatherapeutical mix of citrus and rose that can be used for the body or spaces.

This fragrance really stands out in my collection which, as you might suspect by now, has several orientals and very few florals or citrus fragrances. The closest, and actually very close, is my summer favorite Escale a Portofino. In fact, this breezy thing feels like a virgin version of that one.

My agua fresca de limón y rosa soothes me, and I find it an excellent option for times when I don’t feel like making an advanced perfume choice or in a situation where a heavy scent is not appropriate. This fills a void for me as I have been inclined to go all or nothing and felt an emptiness of the olfactory soul on the days when it was nothing. I have used Rain from Demeter on such days, but we suddenly started to disagree.

But back to Jimmy Boyd. His real name is James Joseph Boyd (and now he starts to sound like a writer friend of Henry James, doesn’t he?) and he was born in Barcelona. His career as a perfumer started with studies in Grasse under the tutorship of Marcel Carles. (Bonus fact: Marcel Carles’ father was a mentor to Jacques Polge). I look forward to getting to know the nose of Mr Boyd better.